Just a quick cross-post from Peter M. Ball’s website from earlier. I’ve been super bad at keeping up with these check-ins lately, and could come up with a million excuses, but the primary one is that I simply forget to do it and realize on Wednesday I’ve missed it again. So I’m going to try to keep up on it a bit more.
What am I working on this week?
The last few weeks have been totally unpredictable, with unannounced houseguests, Bug’s b-day party prep, and–oh yes–Bug busting our TV (literally hit it with a small (surprisingly padded, but still hard) hockey stick), so my usual hour of writing in the AM has gone by the wayside for the next few weeks (after that, he’ll be allowed to stream on my phone for that period, but we felt for obvious reasons that a month away from his beloved cartoons was probably appropriate to start learning that “causes-effects” thing about life). So writing time has been a bit undependable lately. That said, I’m still trying to get a little something done at least sporadically as I re-assess what time is available to commandeer. So this week, I’m going to review the beginning of Chapter 2 of a new book rough draft, and maybe add a bit to it, and then start ramping up the energy needed to tackle Chapter 1 of the novel rewrite for last year’s rough draft. Don’t know if I’ll actually get to putting down words on it, but starting to think about a day I could set aside in the evening or on a weekend to write for a big chunk of time.
What’s inspiring me this week?
It’s been all robot and toddler-entertainment round these parts, but we built a fantastic cardboard box maze that took up one whole room and part of another (which Bug lived in for a few days) and all sorts of felt-works (small robots for the kids to take home, and robot costumes with interchangeable buttons–may do a post on this in a week or so once I’ve decompressed!).
I’m also reading One Breath about free-diving records and am learning a ton I did not know about the sport. (For example, the current depth record for free diving (without tanks, single breath-hold) is 702ft (214m)! Most recreational scuba diving doesn’t tend to go deeper than 130ft (One guy did get to 1000 feet with scuba, but decompression going back up took 15 hours, apparently).) It’s fascinating to look at the extremes of human endurance (and insanity, in some cases).
What action do I need to take?
I need, need, NEED to motivate myself to read more. I’ve been reading to Bug at night (we’ve gotten through The Magician’s Nephew, 21 Balloons, and we’re almost done with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and he seems to really be enjoying it, but I need to get back into reading my own current-reading list, too, because I haven’t finished anything in a while. Without the TV, it should be easier, but somehow it’s not, so I need to make a bit more effort, or find other times than late evening to get some pages in.
Maggie Slater 